Is this game any good?

[Truth34]

I'm looking for an underrated baseball game. The reviews were pretty unfavorable.... I have a 360 so this is my only option pretty much. Just wondering if it was underrated because of the framerate issues and they fixed that? Or are there other problems with it?

[baa7]

Re: Is this game any good?

Plenty of impressions threads around here, and your questions have been answered multiple times over the past few months. Start with that.

[dodgerblue]

Re: Is this game any good?

I don't think the reviews short changed the game or underrated it in any way. Its kind of fun but has a lot of warts. But there is no way I'd play it if I the show was available for the 360.

[DannyMac910]

Seriously, it's horrible.

No, it's not.

[brendanrfoley]

Re: Seriously, it's horrible.

With all due respect, and I'm sure we disagree, but I believe those who say MLB 2K8 is "horrible" never moved past the rather shoddy presentation and framerate issues.

2K8's hitting interface received a total overhaul after 2K7, and it shows. It's not perfect, but it's the best this series has had in years. Total Control pitching is also a great deal of fun and is, in my opinion, the best pitching interface I've ever used. Play in the field is improved and the right stick throwing feels "right."

I've played more than 70 games of 2K8. Yes, it has problems; predominantly of the presentation variety. But it plays, between the lines, a good game of baseball.

Is it the best baseball game ever created? No. Is it a good, "B" effort? Yes.

[Truth34]

Re: Is this game any good?

Well I picked it up, since I needed a baseball game, after reading mixed things everywhere pretty much. It's what everyone says. It plays a decent game of baseball but has a lot of warts. I played several games out of the box, and with SFGiants sliders. His sliders at least make it playable.

I honestly can't believe 2k released this game this way. I'm forgiving somewhat and at least it plays a good game between the lines but I still can't believe 2k released a game like this and actually charged full price when it was released. The framerate, presentation and assortment of bugs is ridiculous. It just makes it more frustrating because this game could have been pretty good. In this day and age for a developer like 2k or any developer to release a game that is so thrown together and unfinished like this game is really surprising. Was brinkman fired last minute or something and they just had to release a game?

To be honest I'm kind of getting fed up with 2k. It's too bad because they make some really good games. College hoops 2k is their best series because it has that extra time to work out the kinks from the nba 2k series. NBA 2k8 came out. It was awful at first. The finally released a very good patch which fixed alot of things and made it pretty good. College hoops was released later and with a patch is one of the best sports games ever. 2k has been really bad with this stuff recently though. MLB 2k8 is on a whole other level of this crap right now. This game is not even finished. I doubt a patch would fix a lot of this stuff although i wish they would at least try to release another patch. At least fix the framerate problems.

Not to make this into a rant, but everything people say is true. They pretty up the graphics, improve the sound and presentation, fix the framerates and bugs, and tune up the gameplay, and this game is more fun than the show imo.. That's the frustrating part. The good part is i'm getting good games and realistic stats for the most part with sliders. It's a fun game amidst all this crap and potentially could be the best baseball game around. MVP 05 was the best baseball game. MLB 2k8 with all its modes and gameplay could be. It's too bad Brinkman is gone. Hopefully next year they keep things consistant and make this game what it could have been. Right now this game is nothing more than a 6.5 with a solid 8 for gameplay, modes and signature styles. The presentation and glitches bring the score down.

[Truth34]

Re: Seriously, it's horrible.

With all due respect, and I'm sure we disagree, but I believe those who say MLB 2K8 is "horrible" never moved past the rather shoddy presentation and framerate issues.

2K8's hitting interface received a total overhaul after 2K7, and it shows. It's not perfect, but it's the best this series has had in years. Total Control pitching is also a great deal of fun and is, in my opinion, the best pitching interface I've ever used. Play in the field is improved and the right stick throwing feels "right."

I've played more than 70 games of 2K8. Yes, it has problems; predominantly of the presentation variety. But it plays, between the lines, a good game of baseball.

Is it the best baseball game ever created? No. Is it a good, "B" effort? Yes.

The funny thing is I agree with you. I got past the warts and see what they were doing with this game. That is why it's frustrating. The gameplay itself is extremely addictive and fun. The animations, colisions and hitting and pitching, and fielding are excellent. A lot of stuff need to be tuned, they need to fix up the presentation and the framerates should have been fixed with a patch. That is unforgivable. They fix that and this game gets a solid 8 for what they tried to do with the gameplay. I wish they would. It reminds me of Madden 08 for some reason the way the players interact and move. It's an innovative game. As it stands this is an unfinished game and it's a shame. The weird thing I am having more fun with this game even with all this crap over the show. The gameplay is better lol. Is it a more complete product than the show? No. Is it a more fun game? Yes it is. It took me ab out 5 or 6 games and some good sliders, to get used to what they are trying to do. The first 5 or 6 games I though it was really bad but then i started to get a feel for things.

[brendanrfoley]

Re: Seriously, it's horrible.

As it stands this is an unfinished game and it's a shame.

I agree the game feels "unfinished" and not polished. But there are several factors that are getting my hopes up for 2K9.

- Gameplay is nearly "there," and will be with minor tweaks. The hardest part is done!
- Despite all the problems, the new Signature Styles in 2K8 looked GREAT.
- New commentary (it's impossible to be worse than Morgan)

These following points I gathered from some of KushGamer's posts:
- Presentation and franchise are getting "a lot of love."
- New art/environment team started rebuilding stadiums before 2K8
- Had a feeling of "significant" presentation changes

If Visual Concepts is able to ship a game that runs silky smooth and features a "revamped" presentation, MLB 2K9 will be GREAT. If 2K stumbles again, and there's always the possibility it will, I'll be tremendously disappointed.

[Qb]

Re: Is this game any good?

Played a few games of this over the weekend (first in a month or so) head-to-head same console with my brother-in-law. We had an 11-5 romp while he was working out some pitching kinks, but other than that a few very fun, tight games with good scores & a variety of action. I can easily see some of the positives as well:

The pitching/batting element is outstanding with two users actually trying to 'pitch', with one exception -- get rid of the meatball! If you miss your motion or release point, how about throwing a ball?! He continually botched his pitches only to have them turn into perfect strikes on the corners, at the knees, etc. I guess I would have received a boost if I swung, but I'm not even thinking swing when my initial read on a pitch is low & away.

I still have some issues with CPU pitch selection/location, but this for the most part is true of the single player experience as well. This is a very good thing, as this is the core of any great baseball game.

Signature styles are great. I updated a lot of stances, wind-ups & equipment prior to losing interest and my brother-in-law was blown away when we played (he has the game but only used the 2K updates).

However, a few negatives always get me:

I wouldn't rank fielding as good. Yes it's improved, but it still feels choppy and clunky to me. Perhaps most of this can be attributed to the framerate issues. But FR doesn't account for the AI defenders diving for balls rather than taking a few steps to get into the proper position and this happened multiple times per game in my experience (with various settings).

The lack of running by the AI also kept me from really getting into the game. Although it's not nearly as big a part of baseball as it used to be, the feel of the game was hurt considerably by the station-to-station CPU offense.

And of course, the online lag. I would be more than happy if 2K8 was just a game I could play online with a small group of guys who know baseball. After this weekend's games, I can see that it would be very enjoyable head-to-head. Unfortunately, I can't even play it online due to the lag.

[DJ]

Re: Is this game any good?

Just picked this game up over the weekend. While not perfect, the game overall is very fun to play. I love the pitching and hitting mechanics. Gives the game a challenge as opposed to just picking a spot and hitting a button to pitch and just pressing a button to swing. Defensively the players feel too stiff, or stuck in concrete, but it's not a game-killer for me.

The other negative is that it takes a long time to play a game, around 1 hour. Any way to get that shortened down to about 40-45 min?

[Truth34]

Re: Is this game any good?

I know this is wishful thinking and I don't expect them to at this point at all, but I really wish 2k would release a 2nd patch for this game to at least tune the gameplay, fix some of the francise bugs, nad fix the framerates. This gmae was released to the public this way and they really should. This game has the potential to be an excellent game with all it's modes, core gameplay and signature styles. I realize we are going to have to wait until 2k9 for this game to be where it really could have been and I'll be looking forward to it and hoping they don't screw it up, but a patch would at least make this a solid game. Right now it's just decent and I'm left wondering what could have been more times than not. I really like what 2k and Brinkman were attempting to do with this game. It's obviously not finished.


Modes- The modes and options are there that's the good thing. There are a plethora of franchise glitches, the trade AI is bad, you can't play online due to the framerates brings the score down considerably. They improve these things this game is a 9 or 10 in this area.

Gameplay-. The core gameplay is good. I'm actually being nice because it's so innovative. Again there are AI flaws and glitches, the cpu doesnt steal. The game doesn't flow right in areas especially the fielding. The framerate again takes away from it. You have more control which is a beautiful thing, but it jsut needs to be tuned up in areas again. Even with all the problems it's just a fun game to play and really innovative.

Graphics- The player models and signature styles are actually pretty good The graphics could be better in areas. Some of the animations are very good. Others are poor like the throwing motions of fielders sometimes and other animations look like i'm playing a sega genesis game not a 360 game(ie the cutoff animation and several others). The player models could look better and the stadiums and grass as well. The stadiums are good in areas but look really cheesy in other areas. Again the framerate hurts the graphics. It's hard to appreciate the good when its so choppy.

Presentation and Sound- This game has 2 good commentators that's the positive. They are completely underutilized and repetive and just plain off and wrong, that's the negative. There is a delay in what they say and what they say isn't even right a lot of the time. Plus they say the same things over and over.... Jon and Joe are becoming like old incarnations of Madden where it's just bad. I hope they don't remove them completely like EA did with Madden and go with a cheesy stadium announcer. The sound effects are ok.. I like some of the stadium chants and the crowd does seem to react pretty well at times but it could be better. It just seems to be missing that excitement in areas they were trying to create. The crack of the bat and the snap of the glove need to be improved although it's not horrible. They took out some of the cut scenes from 2k7. The framerate again hurts the presentation I love the replays and the way it replays at the end of the game while you are looking at stats but it doesn't mean a whole lot if the framerate is freezing up and its not executed properly.

This game is the ultimate jekyl and hyde. there are so many things this game does that are so piss poor I can't believe they released a current gen title like this. This game also does things so good I am dealing with this stuff just to play it. I just hope ultimately losing Brinkman doesnt lead this game down another road entirely. mlb 2k has the ability to be far and away the best baseball game around. Unfortunately this game reminds me of Madden in 04 where it was becoming really glitchy and they decided to fire some people and really lost something as far as fun factor from about 2005-2007. 2005-2007 in madden was really stale imo. They didnt get back to what makes madden fun until 2008.